LORD of Armies
הוה צבאות (LORD of Armies) is a title for GOD who rules over the nations.
This is a true story.
A friend told me that his brother flips homes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He installs RING security cameras to keep his investments safe.
Recently, he saw archived footage of a man who looked like he was breaking into one of his investment houses. He printed off a RING photo of the burglar and began walking through the neighborhood, asking:
“Do you know this man? Have you seen this man before?”
After seven days, eventually involving the Tulsa police, my friend’s brother made an embarrassing discovery.
The photo of the “alleged burglar” was an image of himself.
He’d forgotten he had gone to his investment house to turn down the air conditioning.
He didn’t recognize his image.
The Imago Dei Blurred
GOD (in English) is an abbreviation of the English word GOOD.
People call God by different names in their native tongues, including הוה YHWH (Hebrew), اللهAllah (Arabic), 老天爷 Tianzhu (Chinese), Jesus (English), or 6,905 other names for GOD in the almost 7,000 human languages in our world.
No matter how many names are used, the fact remains:
And He is GOOD.
GOD has placed His imago Dei (the image of GOD) in every human being.
That means man’s purpose is to be good.
GOD has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your GOD?
To be GOOD, according to GOD, involves three actions:
To do justice - “giving each person his or her due.” God’s justice involves retribution for evil-doers and restoration for victims of evil. GOD’s retribution for evil-doers is death. However, GOD restores victims of evil to honor. Both retribution and restoration reveal GOD’s goodness and grace (see Psalm 97:11-12; 112:3-6; 116:5; 118:15-19). A nation that rewards evil and punishes good will die. GOD ends them.
To love kindness - “being helpful, respectful, and graceful.” This English word kindness translates the Hebrew word חֵסֵד (hesed). Hesed means acts of love and service to others, not just warm, emotional feelings. Kindness is charity in action.
To live humbly - I love this Hebrew word וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ, translated “humbly.” It is used for Griffin vultures whose wings are “folded beside their body.” as they wait for currents of the wind to fly. A humble person sets aside personal desires or efforts that violate GOD's Law. The humble wait on GOD, trust the Creator, live by faith, and love others. The humble ask, “GOD, what do YOU desire?” Any people or nation that takes PRIDE in violating Natural Law will one day be brought to an end by GOD.
In 2023, some nations cannot recognize GOD’s image in them.
The Imago Dei has been blurred.
Nations and GOD
A nation is a collection of people with a common identity.
Some people groups and nations make the mistake of believing that the Creator, whom they call by name in their native tongue, is in charge of only their nation.
Theocratic nationalism is seen in radical Islamic republics like Iran and other nations like Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Even some Christians (ex., Vatican City) fall into a theocratic national identity trap by wrongly believing GOD rules over just their nation and no other.
The Creator is RULER over all nations and GOD sets national boundaries.
“GOD marked out the nations appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. GOD did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though he is not far from any one of us.” - Acts 17:26-27
The Rise and Fall of Nations and Empires
One of the titles of GOD is LORD of Armies.
In English versions of the Bible, this title for GOD is translated as the LORD of hosts.
Throughout history, GOD has used human armies to bring down nations that violate Natural Law.
Since GOD is CREATOR and sustains all things, including nations and their boundaries, GOD rules over every nation and holds them all accountable to His Law (e.g., the Laws of Nature).
GOD rules over all the nations, not just Israel and the United States:
“Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites?”
declares the Lord.
”Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,
and the Arameans from Kir? - Amos 9:7
Interestingly, the Philistines (Palestinians) were called from Caphtor (located in the Egyptian Nile) to the land Canaan by GOD, just as GOD called the Hebrews to Eretz Israel to overthrow the Canaanites.
GOD ordained that the Philistines intermarry with the Greeks:
The CREATOR is GOD over the Palestinians, the Iranians, the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Lebanese, the Turkish, the Americans, the Chinese, the Australians, the South Africans, the Moroccans, the Europeans, the Greeks, the Russians, and every other national ethnic group worldwide.
Nations and peoples who lose sight of doing good will often turn to evil, oppression, and terror.
But GOD…
D. Martin Loyd-Jones says, “But GOD… are the two most powerful words in the Bible.”
When any nation, whether it be HAMAS in Gaza, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of China, Russia, Syria, the United States, Great Britain, Israel, Egypt, or any other nation that violates Natural Law, GOD will use the armies of other nations to bring down the rebellious, proud, and evil.
Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, may be destroyed.
LORD of Armies
The nation that violates Natural Law is one that:
Practices injustice by rewarding evil doers and doing evil;
Practices hate and not kindness by harming people whom they oppress;
Practices pride by “shaking a fist” at GOD and saying, “We’ll live as we desire.”
GOD brings down evil nations as the LORD of armies, using other nations and their armies to destroy the evil, hateful, and proud.
I’ll give you an example from ancient Babylon.
Babylon and GOD
The Babylonian Empire (606-539 BC) lasted for seventy years.
GOD determined how long HE would sustain the Babylonian Empire.
11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I’ll punish Babylon’s kin and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I’ve uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.” Jeremiah 25:11-13
Babylon defeated Assyria in 609 BC at the Battle of Haran to become the world’s second great empire (after Assyria).
In October 539, the army of Persia defeated Babylon when Cyrus, King of Persia, had his Persian army divert the Euphrates River, dig under the Walls of Babel, and conquer Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and the Babylonian people (see Daniel 5).
GOD sustained the empire of Babylon for 70 years, just as He said. The LORD of armies brought down the nation of Babylon because of its evil deeds.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, slaughtered the Jews in 586 B.C., killed the young sons of King Zedekiah Judah, gouged out the eyes of Zedekiah so the last thing the king ever saw was his young sons dying, and then the king of Babylon dragged the king of Judah and the Jewish people to Babylon.
What the king of Babylon did to the Jews in 586 B.C., Hamas of Gaza did to the Jews in AD 2023.
The LORD of armies may be bringing down GAZA.
The UNITED STATES might be next.